Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia
Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (
United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia) or
AUC is a
terrorist umbrella organization formed in
April 1997 to consolidate most local and regional
paramilitary groups in
Colombia, each with the mission to protect economic interests and combat insurgents locally. AUC itself estimates that they have authority over about 90% of the paramilitary forces within Colombia, with the remainder being independent factions.
The AUC claims its primary objective is to protect its sponsors from insurgents and their activities, including kidnapping and extortion, because the state historically failed to do so. The AUC now asserts itself as a regional and national counterinsurgent force. Former AUC supreme leader Carlos Castaño in 2000 claimed 70 percent of the AUC's operational costs were financed with drug-related earnings, the rest coming from "donations" from its sponsors.
Activities
According to the Colombian National Police in the first ten months of 2000 the AUC conducted 804 assassinations, 203 kidnappings, and 75 massacres with 507 victims. The AUC claims the victims were guerrillas or sympathizers. Combat tactics consist of conventional and guerilla operations against main force insurgent units. AUC clashes with military and police units are increasing, although the group has traditionally avoided government security forces.
The AUC's main enemies are leftist insurgency groups, the FARC and ELN, both of which are classified as foreign terrorist organizations by the US State Department. In 2001, the State Department condemned the AUC for massacres, torture, and other human rights abuses and added it to the terrorist group list.
However, some analysts and recent Human Rights Watch reports allege that considerable elements within the Colombian military and police still continue to either directly collaborate with or merely tolerate local AUC paramilitary groups. Even if it is clear that there has been a noticeable reduction in such behavior in recent years and that there have been increasing efforts to combat paramilitary influence, much more remains to be done and HRW remains seriously critical of this situation.
Negotiation attempt
Recently, after a cease-fire was declared (which in practice has been publicly admitted by the AUC and the government to be partial, resulting in a reduction but not the cessation of killings), the government of Colombian president Álvaro Uribe Vélez has begun talks with the group with the aim to eventually dismantle the organization and reintegrate its members to society. Several hundred members of the organization (more than 600) have already demobilized under existing laws.
However, a new law project was presented which offered to pardon the members of any illegal armed group (which would legally include both guerrillas and paramilitaries) that declared a cease-fire and entered talks with the government, in return for, mainly, their verified demobilization, concentration within a specific geographic area and the symbolic reparation of the offenses committed against the victims of their actions. After much discussion and controversy over it, a further revised draft was presented.
The new project, among other details, called for the creation of a 3 to 5 member Truth Tribunal which would study each case brought before it (at the request of the President), after the groups/ individuals sign an agreement to respect international humanitarian laws and accept the authority of the Tribunal, in exchange for a minimum sentence of 5 to 10 years (part of it could possibly be served outside jail) for those guilty of the most serious crimes, the confession of the crimes which were committed in connection with the activities of the illegal armed group, and the completion of concrete acts of reparation towards the victims.
If the Tribunal were to deny the benefits to anyone, there would be no possibility of reconsideration. However, the President would be able to veto individuals who did receive a favorable sentence. The new law would be in effect only until 31st December of 2006.
HRW spokesman Jose Miguel Vivanco publicly stated, during one of the final audiences which were created to discuss aspects of the original project (of which he remained highly critical), that the new proposition seemed to be considerably more in line with international standards, at first glance.
However, in contrast to these efforts, Salvatore Mancuso, one of the AUC's main commanders, has publicly expressed that he is against both any potential extradition of himself (and his "comrades in arms") towards the USA and refuses "spending any day in jail".
Also, there have been internal conflicts within the illegal organization, as other AUC leaders have mutually accused each other of being tainted with narcotrafficking and their troops have even met in combat.
In short, due to the different, regionalistic and sometimes warring factions within the AUC, successfully concluding any peace initiative does not appear to be an easy task at all.
In mid-May 2004, the talks appeared to move forward as the government agreed to grant the AUC leaders and 400 of their bodyguards a 142-square-mile safe haven in Santa Fe de Ralito, Córdoba, where, under OAS verification, further discussions will be held, for a (renewable) trial period of 6 months. While the AUC leaders remain in this area, they will not be subject to arrest warrants. \nThat condition and most of remaining legal framework invoked was previously implemented for the much larger San Vicente del Caguán area that former President Pastrana granted the FARC guerrillas during the 1998-2002 peace process, but there are differences.
The local, state and police authorities will not leave the zone, since Colombian laws will still be fully applicable within its limits. The paramilitary leaders will require special permission to leave and re-enter the zone, and government prosecutors will be allowed to operate inside it in order to investigate criminal offenses.
Disappearance of Carlos Castaño
Separately, in events which remain clouded and confusing, former AUC supreme leader Carlos Castaño, who had become relatively isolated from the organization, apparently suffered an attempt on his life on April 16th 2004, presumably at the hands of either his own bodyguards, those of rival paramilitary troops, or perhaps even other entities altogether.
Acting AUC commanders claim to believe that there was an accidental exchange of gunfire between his bodyguards and a separate group of paramilitary fighters, but that he may still be alive and possibly in hiding.
Other independent sources within the group and among its dissident factions claim that he and his men were captured and tortured before being executed and then buried by order of other AUC top leaders (perhaps his own brother Vicente Castaño and/or another commander nicknamed "Don Berna"), who have become increasingly close to narcotraffickers and their trade.
Colombian investigators found a makeshift grave and an unidentified body (yet apparently not Castaño's) near the supposed area of the events. Those same sources allege that the bodies of Castaño and his other companions were dug up and taken to other locations before the investigators could arrive.
It has been speculated in the Colombian and international press that this could be a potential blow to the peace process, as Castaño seemed to become relatively critical of the increasing association with narcotraffickers in recent years and more willing to compromise with the Colombian state, and thus the remaining AUC commanders (such as Mancuso and alias "Don Berna") would potentially maintain a much less open negotiating position in the ongoing talks with the Uribe government.
Possible paramilitary presence in Venezuela
In early May 2004, Venezuelan authorities arrested at least 100 individuals that they accused of being Colombian paramilitaries and of scheming, together with part of the Venezuelan opposition, to begin a series of scheduled attacks against heavily fortified military targets within Caracas, aiming at the overthrow of President Hugo Chávez.
The AUC officially denied that they had anything to do with them. Colombian President Álvaro Uribe congratulated the Venezuelan president for the capture and pledged to cooperate with the investigation, while President Chávez himself declared that, as far as he was concerned, he did not believe that Uribe had anything to with the operation, for which he blamed "elements" within "the oligarchies of Miami and Bogotá", also implicating individual high-ranking U.S. and Colombian military officers, who have denied such involvement.
Colombian Vice-president Francisco Santos added that he hoped that the Venezuelan government would pursue with equal zeal those FARC and ELN guerrillas who would also be present in Venezuela. The Venezuelan opposition dismisses the whole event as a "setup", claiming that Chávez intends to interfere with the potential approval of an electoral process that seeks to eventually recall him from power.
Most of those arrested were apparently unemployed poor peasants, some from the Cúcuta area, that had at some point in their lives done standard military service in Colombia and thus qualified as reservists. Some women and underage children were also included among them. The latter were speedily repatriated to Colombia. The alleged paramilitaries were caught wearing Venezuelan Army uniforms and had a single gun in their possession. At least two supposed paramilitary commanders were also captured.
These events still remain a matter of further investigation by Venezuelan authorities, as of June 2004.
Recent events
Later in the month, paramilitary leader Carlos Mauricio Garcia alias "Doble Cero" ("Double Zero") or "Rodrigo", who since the 1980s had been a close associate of Castaño within the AUC (but had fallen into disgrace in recent years, leading to the formation of his own independent "Bloque Metro"\n( "Metro Block"), which operated in the Antioquia area until it was exterminated by rival paramilitary commanders from the AUC mainstream) was found dead on May 30th 2004. He had strongly objected to what he considered an improperly close relationship between the AUC and drug traffickers, and was also opposed to the group's talks with the government.
While many different rumors concerning the death of AUC co-founder Carlos Castaño remained in the air, as of June 1st 2004, unidentified diplomatic sources told the AFP agency that, apparently, Castaño may have been spirited away to Israel, via Panama, with U.S. assistance.
No specific reasoning or details regarding this claim have yet been produced. The U.S., Colombian and Israeli governments have denied this allegation, which remains unconfirmed by any other parties.
In spite of all these claims, the truth regarding Castaño's exact condition has yet to be revealed as of June 1st 2004.\nCategory:Terrorist organizations
